1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a computer-implemented method for providing information on updates and/or fixes to a software product.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a software product is released, documentation is generally provided describing the functions and operations of the software. Before the next release of the software product, the producer may provide interim updates and/or fixes for the software product. These updates and/or fixes between releases are referred to as program temporary fixes (PTFs).
Often, there are several PTFs between major releases of the software product. Users may be unaware that PTFs have been installed and how they modify the software product. Further, the updates and fixes installed to the software product by way of PTFs are not described in the original documentation provided with the release of the software product. Moreover, separate documentation provided with a PTF is often lost, discarded or not readily available. As a result, at any given time, there is no way for the user to immediately determine exactly what changes have been made to any given copy of the software product, how those changes affect the functions and operations of the software product, and which sections of the original documentation are outdated. Furthermore, multiple copies of a product may be installed that are at unknown and/or different fix levels. Thus, there is a need in the art for improved methods of providing informational text or documentation concerning PTFs applied to the software product to users with the copy of the product they are using.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for providing information to a user on modifications made to a base software product with a program temporary fix. One or more program temporary fixes are applied to the base software product. The program temporary fix includes informational text describing how the program temporary fix modifies the base software product. The informational text included with the program temporary fix is applied to informational text provided with the base software product to generate cumulative informational text. The cumulative informational text describes the base software product as modified by the program temporary fix. The cumulative informational text may be accessed and presented to the user.
In further embodiments, the program temporary fix can comprise at least one update or fix to the base software product. In yet further embodiments, a second program temporary fix can be applied to a cumulative software product comprised of the base software product and the program temporary fix previously applied. In such case, the second program temporary fix would include informational text describing how the second program temporary fix modifies the cumulative software product.
An object of the present invention is to allow the user to readily access information describing the effect of installed PTFs on the base software product. Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool for accessing and presenting such information. Still another object of the present invention is to make the base software product and the applied PTFs self-describing entities. Yet another object is to consolidate information in a readily accessible location so users do not need to contact technical support facilities of the software developer or spend considerable time searching for technical support information in different locations.